For centuries, people used willow bark to treat pain and fevers. However, it was not until the late 1800s that scientists developed an analog of the active ingredient in willow bark, creating aspirin, the essential medicine that is now part of everyday life.

The National Library of Medicine produced Take Two and Call Me in the Morning: The Story of Aspirin Revisited, guest curated by Anne Rothfeld, PhD (National Library of Medicine). The traveling banner exhibition and companion website examine how modern organic chemistry and technology isolated, then synthesized nature’s properties into a medication now common worldwide.

Chemists in Leeds University Laboratories, 1908 Courtesy National Library of Medicine
From ancient times, physicians and healers used willow bark to relieve pains, ease inflammation, and reduce fevers. Illustration of white willow tree from Herb
The value of aspirin as a therapeutic increased during World War I. The French manufacturer Usines du Rhône used the visual trope of the hospital nurse to assure customers of aspirin’s effectiveness. Advertisement for Laboratoire des Produits Usines du Rhône, ca. 1900s Courtesy National Library of Medicine

By the latter half of the 20th century, scientists had begun examining aspirin for benefits beyond pain relief and fever reduction. The Story of Aspirin [Revisited] expands on the content of a 1959 NLM exhibition about the same topic. The Story of Aspirin Revisited includes a selection of health information resources and a digital gallery of fully digitized items from the historical collections of the NLM, which are alsoavailable in their entirety in NLM Digital Collections.

Take Two and Call Me In the Morning: The Story of Aspirin [Revisited] is on view now, until December 21st. 

Swedish biochemist Sune K. Bergström (1916–2004) shared the 1982 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with two other scientists for breakthroughs in research into aspirin’s anti-blood clot ability. Sune K. Bergström (right) with (from left to right) Mary Lasker, Michael DeBakey, and Congressman John B
Acetylsalicylic Acid (Aspirin), 2023 Courtesy National Library of Medicine

The National Library of Medicine produced this exhibition and companion website.